How the Hays Code Kept Sex Outside Marriage Off the Screen

What was the Hays Code?

The Hays Code was a set of moral guidelines that American studios agreed to follow in making films, and it was enforced through a seal of approval. Its formal name is the Motion Picture Production Code. Britannica dates its application from 1934 to 1968, when the current rating system took its place ^[1]. It was never a statute: the industry adopted it on its own initiative ^[1].

The Code takes its popular name from Will H. Hays, who led the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) from 1922 to 1945. The trade group was formed by industry leaders to regulate themselves and head off government censorship, and its censorship office came to be called the Hays Office ^[3]. Hays was born on November 5, 1879, in Sullivan, Indiana, and had served as Postmaster General in 1921 and 1922 ^[3].

Hays did not write the text alone. According to Wikipedia, the Code was drafted by Martin Quigley and Father Daniel A. Lord, and the MPPDA agreed to abide by it on March 31, 1930 ^[2]. Enforcement came later. A June 13, 1934 amendment created the Production Code Administration (PCA), and films released on or after July 1, 1934 needed its Seal of Approval; the system became fully functional in January 1935 ^[2].

Joseph Breen headed enforcement from 1934 until he retired in 1954, a period remembered for its rigidity ^[2]. The seal was the mechanism: a member studio that released a film without it was departing from the industry's own agreement.

Timeline

1. 1915In Mutual Film Corp. v. Industrial Commission of Ohio, the Supreme Court holds that free speech does not cover motion pictures.
2. 1922Will H. Hays becomes president of the industry's trade association, created to self-regulate and head off government censorship.
3. 1930March 31: studios agree to abide by the Production Code drafted by Martin Quigley and Father Daniel A. Lord.
4. 1934July 1: films must carry a Production Code Administration Seal of Approval; Joseph Breen heads enforcement.
5. 1952In Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson, the Supreme Court overrules Mutual and protects films under the First Amendment.
6. 1953The Moon Is Blue is released without a Seal, the first such release by a member of the industry association.
7. 1968November 1: the voluntary rating system (G, M, R, X) takes effect under Jack Valenti.
8. 1990September: NC-17 replaces the X rating.

Why did Hollywood adopt it?

Hollywood adopted the Code to avoid outside regulation, in answer to public criticism and the threat of censorship by governments. Britannica describes it as self-imposed guidelines produced in response to public backlash and the prospect of government control ^[1]. Hays's own biography ties the creation of the trade association to a number of scandals involving Hollywood personalities around 1922 ^[3].

The legal background made the fear real. In Mutual Film Corp. v. Industrial Commission of Ohio (1915), the Supreme Court unanimously held that free speech did not extend to motion pictures, which left states free to establish censorship boards ^[2]. A single industry code was a way to answer that exposure on the industry's own terms, though the sources consulted do not describe how many state boards were active.

Organized boycotts added pressure. The Wikipedia account mentions the boycotts of the National Legion of Decency, though the source consulted does not give a founding date for the Legion ^[2]. Legal exposure and the threat of boycott are the two pressures the sources associate with the industry's acceptance of a code in 1930 and its stricter enforcement from 1934.

Before 1934 the Code existed but was not enforced, and the films of that period are known as pre-Code films. Adult content was common in them. After enforcement began, some pre-Code films were withdrawn from circulation, and studios remade others, among them The Maltese Falcon and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in 1941 ^[2]. Britannica gives a smaller example: a 1936 rerelease of Dracula used an altered ending to comply with the Code, and the original ending was later lost ^[1].

How did it treat adultery and sex outside marriage?

The Code treated marriage and the home as institutions to be upheld and barred any suggestion that sexual relationships outside marriage were normal or attractive. The text excerpted in a 1990 volume by Leonard Leff and Jerold Simmons, reproduced by George Mason University's History Matters project, lists three general principles: audience sympathy must not be thrown to crime, wrongdoing or sin; correct standards of living should be shown; and law, natural or human, must not be ridiculed ^[4].

On adultery, the excerpt says it may appear when the plot needs it, but it must not be shown in explicit detail, excused or made attractive ^[4]. On what it calls illicit sex, the Code's broader position was that low or improper sexual relationships should not be presented as accepted or typical. Among the specific prohibitions it names are sexual perversion or any hint of it, white slavery, interracial relationships and the subjects of sex hygiene and venereal disease ^[4].

Other sections regulated the manner of presentation. Passionate scenes were allowed only when the plot required them, and excessive or lustful kissing, embraces and suggestive poses or gestures were banned ^[4]. Seduction and rape could be suggested only when essential to the plot and never treated as comedy, and the Code forbade childbirth scenes, even in silhouette ^[4]. The Motion Picture Association's history adds, in a single sentence, that the Code prohibited kissing for more than three seconds, a detail that circulates widely but that the source does not tie to a specific article of the text ^[6].

The practical effect was a convention of implication. Sexual relations outside marriage could not be portrayed as attractive, and any perverted act, including suggested same-sex relationships, was ruled out ^[2][4]. Wikipedia lists "the institution of marriage" among subjects for which the Code asked for special care ^[2]. The result was a body of films in which affairs are often implied, delayed or redeemed. The older American legal approach to the same conduct is described in the history of US fornication laws.

How did filmmakers work around the rules?

Filmmakers worked around the Code by implication, euphemism and ambiguous endings, and from the 1950s by releasing films without a seal. The best-known example is Casablanca (1942). Wikipedia reports that Breen objected to explicit references to the central couple's past relationship and to a police officer's demand for favors; both remained strongly implied, and the Code ruled out the couple resuming their affair, which shaped the ending in which Rick renounces Ilsa ^[2].

The system began to crack in the 1950s. In Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson (1952), the Supreme Court unanimously overruled its 1915 Mutual decision and held that films are protected by the First Amendment, so that the state of New York could not ban The Miracle ^[2]. The ruling removed a legal foundation under both state censorship and the industry's fear of it.

Producers then began testing the seal. The Moon Is Blue (1953) was released by United Artists without a Seal of Approval, the first production by a member of the industry association to go out that way ^[2]. The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), directed by Otto Preminger, portrayed drug abuse, a prohibited subject ^[2]. Some Like It Hot (1959) did not receive a seal, and its success at the box office weakened the Code further ^[2].

Enforcement also changed hands: Breen retired in 1954, and by the mid-1960s films such as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Blowup were openly testing the limits, which is the background to the change described next.

Why was it replaced by ratings in 1968?

The Code was replaced because it no longer matched what filmmakers, courts or audiences accepted, and because the industry preferred a voluntary system of advice to a system of approval. Jack Valenti, who became president of the Motion Picture Association of America in May 1966, regarded the Code as outdated and said that it had an odious smell of censorship ^[5]. Films such as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (with language the Code prohibited) and Blowup (denied approval over nudity, and then released through an MGM subsidiary) made the gap plain ^[5].

Valenti first added an interim advisory called "Suggested for Mature Audiences," then developed advisory ratings applied after a film was completed, partly to avoid government intrusion into the industry ^[5]. The voluntary rating system took effect on November 1, 1968, and applied only to films that premiered in the United States after that date ^[5][6]. The original ratings were G, M, R and X; M suggested mature audiences with parental discretion, and R and X both restricted admission to people under 16 ^[5].

The Wikipedia history says the PCA effectively dissolved by the end of 1968, when Geoffrey Shurlock stepped down, and that it was replaced by the Code and Rating Administration (CARA) ^[2]. One caution applies to dates. Britannica's biography of Will Hays says the Code stayed in force until 1966, which differs from the 1968 date given in its main article on the Code and by the MPA; the difference may reflect the period when Valenti began to relax the system, but the sources consulted do not explain it ^[1][3].

The Hays Code is often confused with the censorship laws of the period. The distinction is clear in the sources: the Code was a private agreement among studios, whereas the rating system that followed is voluntary and is not enforced by law ^[5]. Neither system is a government measure.

What did the rating system keep from the Code?

The rating system kept the idea of an industry body judging content, but it replaced approval with classification and left decisions to parents. The categories have changed several times. In 1970, the minimum age for R and X rose from 16 to 17, and M was renamed GP because parents were confused about whether M films suited children ^[5]. On February 11, 1972, GP became PG ^[5].

PG-13 took effect on July 1, 1984, after complaints about violence in two PG-rated films, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Gremlins; Steven Spielberg proposed the intermediate category, and Red Dawn was the first film to carry it ^[5]. In September 1990, NC-17 replaced X, and Henry & June was the first film to receive it ^[5]. In its 2018 anniversary history, the MPA says its raters had watched close to 30,000 films in full over 50 years and that 95 percent of parents still find the ratings useful ^[6].

Today's body, CARA, calls the system the gold standard of voluntary industry self-regulation and has operated it for nearly sixty years ^[7]. The main difference from the old Code is the target: the Code told filmmakers what they could not show, while the ratings tell audiences what a film contains. The cultural attitudes behind both, including the American habit of treating sexual morality as a public question, are discussed in are Americans puritanical about sex.

Frequently asked questions

Who was Will Hays?

Will H. Hays (1879-1954) was the president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America from 1922 to 1945 and a former Postmaster General. The industry's censorship office took his name, although he did not draft the Code alone ^[2][3].

Was the Hays Code a law?

No. It was a set of guidelines adopted by the film industry itself, in response to public backlash and the threat of government censorship ^[1]. Its force came from the studios' agreement and from the need for a Seal of Approval to reach theaters.

When did the Hays Code end?

It ended in 1968. The voluntary rating system began on November 1, 1968, and the Production Code Administration effectively dissolved by the end of that year ^[2][5]. One Britannica biography gives 1966, so sources differ.

Who wrote the Hays Code?

Martin Quigley and Father Daniel A. Lord drafted it, according to Wikipedia. The MPPDA agreed to abide by the Code on March 31, 1930 ^[2].

What did the Hays Code say about adultery?

It allowed adultery as a subject only when the plot required it, and it forbade showing it in explicit detail, excusing it or making it attractive ^[4]. It also asked that marriage and the home be upheld.

Could a film be shown without the Code's Seal of Approval?

Yes, but it was difficult. From July 1, 1934, member studios needed the seal ^[2]. The Moon Is Blue (1953) was the first member production released without one, and Some Like It Hot (1959) became a hit without it ^[2].

What replaced the Hays Code?

The voluntary film rating system run by what is now the Motion Picture Association replaced it on November 1, 1968, with the original categories G, M, R and X ^[5]. Today's categories are G, PG, PG-13, R and NC-17 ^[6].